11 Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) and Inclusion in the Workplace

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

In general, disability has received less attention compared to other forms of diversity such as race, gender, and sexual orientation within the current trend in all sectors toward greater attention to equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI, or DEI).^[1] This is partly due to the lack of understanding of disability as a form of diversity, but also to deeply embedded ableism in society (discussed previously). In the last decades of the twentieth century, the rights and recognition of people with disabilities, as one writer notes, “were increasingly present in the public view: organizing in political groups, taking up leadership roles in government and social service agencies, and speaking for themselves in media venues that had previously focused a pitying or “inspiring” lens on disabled subjects. On the other hand, as disability issues came to the fore, so did backlash against the causes of inclusion and civil rights.”^[2] This backlash – largely in the form of anti-affirmative action arguments, is mostly an American phenomenon, but there has long been an undercurrent in Canada as well (manifest today, for example, through populist politicians, bloggers, and podcast hosts speaking about “woke culture run amuck”).

Inclusion in the Workplace

The focus of EDI/DEI is often on promoting diversity in terms of demographic characteristics, such as race, gender, and sexual orientation, while the experiences and perspectives of people with disabilities are often overlooked or not adequately addressed. This can result in accessibility barriers being more frequently ignored in the workplace, for example, and with fewer social consequences for the organization or institution implicated.

But while the private sector has much room to grow, the nonprofit sector has not exactly been blazing a trail of inclusion.  As the former CEO of the McConnell Foundation, Tim Brodhead, noted in 2010, “there is still a lingering hangover from the charity mentality of helping others… Only in the past few years have we begun to see charitable organizations dedicated to serving people with disabilities or immigrants or people living in poverty actively seeking to recruit staff from those communities.”^[3] The situation has changed in the past decade for the better, though not radically so.  Still, there are now many interesting nonprofit models of inclusion – including those that would be very high up the Ladder of Participation – organizations controlled by, or run in partnership with, people with disabilities; For example, the Council of Canadians with Disabilities, the Manitoba League of Persons with Disabilities, or the National Educational Association of Disabled Students.

Some of the notable examplars of disability integration within EDI/DEI frameworks, include the GEDI Hub in Alberta, a workplace resource centre for workplace inclusion, and the Open Door Group, a leading-edge BC-based centre for employment inclusion. This past year, Open Door Group launched a new national tool to help employers create workplaces that are measurably more disability-inclusive.

The inclusion-exclusion dichotomy may seem obvious and binary on the surface. But as Canadian social change expert Marilyn Struthers points out, “[s]ocial justice has promoted specific kinds of inclusion, creating avenues and practices for marginal voice and participation. The price [however] can be enclaves of like-thinkers bound by a web of political correctness that privilege tight networks of those who have worked together before and can claim solidarity. This view of relationships can enable deep thinking and ensure fast turnout in response to social issues, such as a public march, but it can also foster a narrow sorting of public actors as “good guys” and “bad guys.”^[4]